Castle of Chillon

Château de Chillon

ABOVE: A Swiss lake steamer approaches the
Château de Chillon on Lac Léman near Montreux.

By Durant Imboden

Afew jaded cynics
might call it a tourist trap, but let's be fair: The Château de Chillon
(a.k.a. Castle of Chillon) is a genuine 13th
Century castle just outside Montreux, Switzerland, not a plaster replica at Disney World. And Lord Byron's famous poem,
The
Prisoner of Chillon, was about a real person: François Bonivard, a lay official at
St. Victor's priory in Geneva, who spoke out in favor of the Reformation and was shackled
to a stone pillar by the Duke of Savoy from 1530 until the Bernese conquest of Vaud in
1536.

The castle appears to rise out of the waters of Lac
Léman, where it occupies a rocky islet and is connected to the mainland by a small wooden
bridge. The setting could hardly be more dramatic--and it's certainly beautiful, at least
to modern visitors who know they won't be assigned to basement quarters for an indefinite
stay. (In the old days, its scenic location had a more practical value: The castle faced
the road between Bergundy and Italy, thereby protecting the House of Savoy's military and
commercial interests.)

A thousand years and counting

No one is sure when the castle was first built. Its site
has been occupied since the Bronze Age, but most historians date the oldest parts of the
château to about a thousand years ago and credit Pierre II of Savoy with building the
present structure in the 13th Century. Its infamous dungeons were literally carved from
the rock that supports the castle foundations. The visible portions of the castle include
some two dozen buildings around three courtyards, all jammed together in a classically
crowded medieval style.

For the last 200 years, the château has been owned by
the Canton of Vaud, and it has been a tourist attraction since it was visited (and
popularized) by 19th Century poets and authors such as Byron, Shelley, Victor Hugo, Hans
Christian Andersen, Flaubert, Mark Twain, and Charles Dickens.

Open daily to visitors

The Castle of Chillon is open every day except
Christmas and New Year's (Dec. 25 and Jan. 1). Hours vary by season; see the
castle's official Web site for huurs and admission fees. (You'll find a link on page
2.)